Heroin use increases in N.H.

By Associated Press | February 28, 2005

CONCORD, N.H. -- Law enforcement officials say heroin use is on the rise in New Hampshire, including among the state's high school students.

Sergeant Rich Farrell of the attorney general's Drug Task Force called heroin use an epidemic in New Hampshire because the option of snorting instead of injecting is turning casual drug users into addicts.

It's difficult to document heroin's hold on New Hampshire beyond anecdotal evidence offered by the prosecutors and police detectives in the field. Police department records show that drug arrests are up across the state, but most departments don't distinguish between heroin and other drugs. Concord police records show a steady increase of heroin arrests between 2000 and 2003. In 2000, police recorded 12 heroin-related offenses; in 2003, they recorded 28.